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Ronald Reagan was derided by Jimmy Carter in the fall of 1980 as being unable to think on his feet and for being overly dependent on “3x5” cards and his teleprompter.

Some things never change.

Carter, to his eventual dismay, bought into the false image of Reagan and dearly paid for his mistake in their epic debate one week before the election, which led to Reagan’s historic landslide win. The day of the debate, the Washington Post reported that Carter had opened up a popular vote lead over Reagan and though behind in the Electoral College, he was closing on Reagan there as well.

Carter was contemptuous of Reagan the man and Reagan’s ideas. The American people thought otherwise.

Washington Republicans are making the classic mistake in politics of underestimating President Obama, despite his win in 2008 against all odds.

But the superficial Washington Republicans - including the remnants of the Bushocracy - would rather attack Obama’s personality rather than the president’s ideas. First, because it is easier and second, because they no longer understand the arguments of Freedom versus Justice. They don’t study history, they don’t read, they don’t know the Cuban Missile Crisis did not stem from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. So how could they be expected to grasp either great or nuanced concepts?

The Republicans are not going to defeat Obama, the man, in 2012. The only way to defeat him is to defeat his ideas.

But that requires the GOP to first understand what the argument that has gripped America since the time of Jefferson and Hamilton is all about.

Before people get too bent out of shape about President Obama’s comments about the ground zero mosque and whether it is an entirely local affair, they need to recall that Richard Nixon - someone with far more experience than Obama when he assumed the presidency - stuck his nose into the prosecution of Charles Manson for the Tate-LoBiondo murders, nearly causing a mistrial.

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